


The Moon Shines On Endlessly

by maelstromdeparture



Series: On the Right Road [21]
Category: ATEEZ (Band), EXO (Band), NCT (Band), SHINee, SuperM (Korea Band), TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Discrimination, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, I should be doing homework, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Medical Inaccuracies, Past Abuse, inaccurate representation of court systems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29255898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelstromdeparture/pseuds/maelstromdeparture
Summary: With hybrid rights at the forefront of people's minds once more now that the Black Rose case has made the decision to allow the hybrids to testify in court and SuperM's comeback around the corner the group is split on how to approach the topic and keep a united front as a group at the same time. An interview gone wrong and a hurt cat hybrid being shoved at them are just the first of SuperM's problems. The country is on the edge of events that may change society forever and SuperM suddenly has to deal with not only figuring out where they stand as a group and their comeback, but also potentially life threatening mistakes in security.
Series: On the Right Road [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1723291
Comments: 34
Kudos: 58





	The Moon Shines On Endlessly

**Author's Note:**

> first things first...i have limited knowledge of exo and shinee so please keep that in mind when reading i have done my best and it is what it is. in all honesty if names are spelled right i will be happy (if names are not spelled right pls tell me so i can fix it) 
> 
> other things i have limited knowledge on include anything medical, how hospitals work, how the law works, how courts work. i do my best to research things but that does not mean they will be accurate in anyway :) pls always assume i don't know what i'm talking about XD
> 
> WARNGINGS!!!!  
> -i don't remember exactly what it is said at the beginning of this fic but there's lots of discrimination right at the beginning  
> -described injuries, broken bones  
> -implied rape  
> -implied/mentioned abuse  
> -this seems iffy so i'm tagging it. forced vomiting. as in forcing someone else to vomit. it's not described anyway because yuck. but that happens 
> 
> i think that's all the important stuff. enjoy :)

With Felix first time being a witness in court being announced only weeks before SuperM starts promoting once more, hybrid rights are once again a hot topic for interviewers and variety shows to bring up with idol groups. EXO had decided as a group they wanted to stay out of the hybrid drama before SuperM promotions started back up, which meant Baekhyun and Kai were doing their best to dodge hybrid questions with the group and trying to keep things neutral. Which worked not at all, since it was public knowledge that Taeyong was pro-hybrid rights and that the 7th Sense boys were very pro-hybrid rights and were one of the few people that had fought for their hybrids rights in the past couple years. It shocked everyone however to find that over the break between SuperM promotions, Shinee had apparently decided where they stood and had opted not to remain neutral in this and that Taemin was being absolutely no help in trying to keep the group neutral on hybrid issues and had opted to join the younger boys rather than side with EXO who were hoping not to be involved in a potential scandal. Which meant Baekhyun managed to look more stressed than he had ever before as he did his best to keep EXO out of it and keep SuperM looking like they were united and while the younger boys had agreed they would do their best to keep SuperM looking like a solid group, Taemin had refused to try and field questions at all resulting in several arguments between the oldest three boys. Which led them to where they were now.

The show they were filming with today had a new host that they hadn’t met before, but the co-host was one they were all familiar with so they had gone into this with high hopes. They really should have known better. Only halfway through the new host had started trying to drive a wedge between the group as she asked multiple questions about hybrid rights, most of them pointed at the 7th Sense boys and the EXO boys. The managers stood off to the side looking more and more annoyed as the show went on and more than one of them had gone over to complain to the show producers but nothing had been done.

“So, Ten,” started the woman and Ten could swear both his bandmates and the co-host collectively flinched at that. “Mark has two cats, right? And you share a room with him in the SuperM dorm?”

“Yeah?” said Ten trying to figure out where this was going.

“Doesn’t that bother you? It just seems like if he’s going to have not one but two cat hybrids he shouldn’t be living in a dorm with other people,” said the woman shaking her head.

“Why would that matter?” asked Ten baffled, “Jisung and Haechan don’t stay at the SuperM dorms very often anyway because there’s really not room for two more people to cram in with me and Mark. But it’s nice to have them around when they do stay the night.” Which must have somehow been the wrong thing to say because off stage the 7th Sense manager seemed to physically cringe and the woman raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh so you like cats then,” she said and Ten frowned.

“Yeah, I guess. Cats are cool,” said Ten and the 7th Sense manager looked like he was praying for patience so Ten glanced at Mark.

“ _Am I missing something in translation?_ ” he asked quietly and Mark shrugged.

“ _I have no idea,_ ” he said.

“So then Mark shares his cats with the group,” said the woman and Ten frowned at her.

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I’m understanding what you’re asking,” said Ten shaking his head. “We like having Jisung and Haechan around they’re cool. It’s like just having two more roommates. How would Mark share them?” Next to him Taeyong’s ears turned bright pink and he took a deep breath before leaning over to whisper in Ten’s ear.

“She means sex, Ten,” he whispered and Ten burst into laughter.

“With the babies? No, is that really what she’s meaning?” asked Ten looking over at Taeyong. “Doesn’t that fall under the dating ban?”

“Oh, so none of you play with the cats at all,” said the woman surprised, “how peculiar. How young are your cat hybrids, Mark, wasn’t the one that got hurt older?”

“Donghyuck’s only a year younger than me and Jisung’s two years younger than him,” said Mark nodding.

“What happened with the one that got stabbed?” asked the woman curiously, “Did you find him a nice shelter?” The group just stared at her in silence.

“No, Donghyuck still lives with us,” said Mark finally as if this was obvious.

“Why on earth would you keep a useless hybrid around? Surely the imperfections left by the stabbing inhibit his worth and usefulness,” said the woman shaking her head, “they’re just not worth the trouble.” Mark visibly looks off camera at his manager who shakes his head helplessly at him.

“Mark didn’t adopt them for their usefulness and he’s certainly not going to get rid of them because they got hurt,” interrupted Ten, “that’s ridiculous and only feeds into the problems with the shelters, euthanasia practices, and hybrid breeders. Donghyuck and Jisung aren’t going anywhere.”

“Right, that was a good way to put that, hyung,” agreed Mark nodding.

“Do you have actual questions for us or are you planning to keep asking about Mark’s hybrids which is none of your business?” asked Taemin. And Baekhyun sighed deeply beside him.

“Right, let’s move on,” agreed the co-host quickly and tried to steer the conversation away to the topics that were actually planned. The rest of the show seemed to drag on from there with the woman host every once in awhile trying to take another jab at directing it back to hybrids but the boys and the co-host did their best to keep the show on track. They managed to get all the way through the last game before another incident occurred. The woman had waited until everyone had sat back down and calmed down, Lucas still whining about how Ten had cheated.

“Now we do have a prize for the winner,” said the co-host, “but you may want to pass it off to one of your members, you’re the one that doesn’t like fruit, right, Ten?” Ten laughed and shook his head. The co-host chuckled and handed over a bucket with apples in it.

“Guess that’s not much of a prize then,” he said.

“Oh that’s alright, I can throw them at the boys,” said Ten cheerfully and then demonstrating his plan by chucking one at Lucas who yelped and fell of his chair trying to catch it. The hosts both laughed at that and Lucas got himself sitting back up again and bit into the apple.

“I do have an alternative prize,” said the woman host grinning and the group visually shifted to look concerned.

“What are you talking about?” asked the co-host baffled.

“Since you like cats so much you can have my stupid hybrid,” said the woman, “there’s something wrong with him he’s broken, but since you apparently like that, it’s all yours.” The co-host looked appalled at that and was staring at her seemingly trying to figure out how to make this stop. Ten looked at Taeyong and then Baekhyun who both looked to be in various states of shocked and horrified, so he looked at his manager who was pinching the bridge of his nose but quickly gestured to try and get Ten to say something, mouthing at him to thank her or something. So Ten did.

“Uh, thanks?” he said hesitantly still not sure that’s what the right response was. The woman smiled vapidly at him and waved a hand.

“Of course, dear, you’re doing me a favor, now I don’t have to run by the clinic on the way home,” said the woman nodding and then waving a staff member over and telling him to run and fetch the cat from her dressing room.

“Let’s wrap this up,” said the co-host quickly. “It’s been great having you all here! Viewers once more, this is SuperM, promoting their new comeback.” The group waved their goodbyes at the cameras quickly and waited until the cameras were off before thanking the co-host they were familiar with while the woman went to help the staff member retrieve the cat hybrid.

“I am so sorry about her,” said the co-host shaking his head, “none of that was on script for today. I’ll talk to the producers.”

“Thanks for trying to help field the questions,” said Baekhyun nodding, “don’t worry we get a lot of those, though that was probably the most blatant yet.”

“Sorry again about the fruit, Ten,” said the host smiling at Ten.

“No, no, don’t apologize, you’ve just given him ammo and a reason to throw things at us,” complained Lucas.

“Right, I’m perfectly happy with my bucket of apples,” agreed Ten nodding.

“Is she really going to throw her hybrid at Ten?” asked Kai hesitantly.

“I honestly don’t know,” said the co-host frowning, “I’m hoping not but I think she’s going to.”

“Our managers are not happy,” said Taemin looking over at where the managers were waiting. A couple of them were angrily talking to the producers, while the rest waited for the group to be done with the hosts.

“Oh my god,” whispered Mark eyes wide as the woman host walked back in, dragging a small cat hybrid behind her by his collar. The cat was obviously in agony and tears streaked down his face as he tried to hold himself up by the collar so he could breath, he wasn’t even trying to walk. The co-host looked horrified and Taeyong grabbed Mark’s shoulder as he was the nearest person to him staring at the scene before them. The woman shoved the cat hybrid at Ten’s feet.

“There, all yours,” she said, “his legs are broken, stupid bitch fell down the stairs a couple days ago, it’s a miracle he didn’t die from it. Here’s his ID booklet. Do whatever you want with him. The ownership papers are in the ID. There’s an appointment for him at SHH if you decide to just put the thing out of it’s misery, but you’ll have to leave now.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” asked Taemin shooting the woman a look. Ten wordlessly took the ID from the woman and shoved it into his pocket. He handed Mark the bucket of apples and crouched down.

“Xuxi, help me get the collar off him,” he said and Lucas hurried to move over and help him get the collar loosened and then off the boy who was still crying and clearly in a lot of pain, his legs were bent at odd angles.

“I’m calling Bangtan,” said Taeyong pulling his phone out already and stepping away from the group and towards the managers. Baekhyun turned to talk to his manager and the producer. Taemin’s manager came over to try and help since the woman was now arguing with Taemin. Ten and Lucas got his collar off of him and Lucas tossed it aside, the boy’s neck was deeply bruised from it and he gasped in air as it had clearly been cutting off his air supply.

“I’m going to pick you up, okay? I’m so sorry it’s going to hurt,” said Ten softly trying to brace himself for the fact that the boy was going to hurt so much more for as long as it took them to get through the building and to the car. The 7th Sense manager looked resigned to the fact that this was his fate and pulled out the car keys.

“Lucas, do you know how to get to the clinic from here?” he asked as Ten wiggled his arms under the boy’s shoulders and knees as carefully as he could.

“Yes,” said Lucas nodding.

“Then you’re up front with me, I’ll need directions,” said their manager nodding and Ten was momentarily very glad that after the issues with the last manager that the company had given them new managers. Though it was likely that the only reason the new ones were any good was because a lot of managers had refused to work with the crazy hybrid group.

“Okay, hold on,” muttered Ten mostly to himself before taking a deep breath and standing up holding the boy who screamed in agony as it moved his legs before quietly crying again, not moving at all.

“I’ll ride back with Taemin-hyung, Ten-hyung,” said Mark, “and I’ll call the others.” Ten nodded and started to follow the manager, Lucas followed right behind them just incase Ten needed help with the boy.

“Tae-hyung?” asked Ten since the older boy was still on the phone as they drew closer to him.

“Beomgyu-yah’s taking care of it,” said Taeyong nodding, “he’s letting the others know right now. They’ll be ready when you get there. Make sure you give Mingi the ID book when you walk in so they can get things in the computer fast.” Ten nodded.

“Okay, thank you,” said Ten nodding and then hurrying to follow their manager out the door. It took some effort to get the cat hybrid into the car and buckled in, but he suffered through it silently, even his tears were quiet. Lucas was focused on giving their manager directions to Bangtan and Ten dug out the ID and flipped it open.

“Taiwan?” he muttered surprised. “YangYang, do you speak Korean?”

“Yes, sir,” muttered the hybrid as quickly as he could, pain lacing his voice. “And English, German, Mandarin.”

“That’s okay, you don’t have to keep going right now,” said Ten quickly, “just try to focus on breathing. It’ll be okay.” YangYang was quiet then still softly crying, leaning heavily into the door.

“Xuxi, can you make sure Mingi gets the ID and the papers?” asked Ten leaning forward.

“Yeah,” agreed Lucas taking them and shoving them into his pocket when Ten handed it to him. “It’s there, you can just park in front of it.”

“Thank you, for helping, you don’t have to wait for us, one of the others can come get us,” said Ten nodding as he unbuckled while their manager parked.

“I can wait. I’ll find a parking spot and go get coffee across the street there,” said their manager nodding. “I’d rather know you had a ride home.” Ten and Lucas both gave him a surprised look.

“Are you sure?” asked Lucas hesitantly, “it’s really not a problem. Johnny-hyung lives a street over and will take us home.”

“I’ll wait,” said their manager shaking his head.

“Alright,” said Ten nodding and climbing out of the car as their manager put it into park. Lucas climbed out of the front.

“If it takes too long just go home, a lot of our friends live in this area we can get home just fine,” said Lucas and their manager nodded but didn’t seem to have changed his mind at all. Ten pulled the door to YangYang’s side open and helped him with the buckle and was as careful as he could be about picking him backup. YangYang held on tightly to his shirt this time and squeezed his eyes shut as Ten carried him towards the door. Beomgyu met them at the door pulling it open.

“Oh, Taeyong-hyung was right, both his legs are definitely broken,” said Beomgyu softly, “okay, Namjoon-hyung is dealing with a puppy that got a fishhook stuck in her ear, and Jeonghan-hyung is somewhere in Gangnam with a house call, so you have Taeil-hyung and the new nurse. That’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, you have a new nurse?” asked Ten following Beomgyu into the back. “Is Yeonjun helping Joon-hyung?”

“Yes,” said Beomgyu nodding. “Also the new nurse’s name is Seonghwa, he’s really nice. He’s Yeonjun-hyung’s age. Taeyong-hyung said that this happened at a show?”

“Well, sorta,” said Ten, “technically it was after the filming had stopped. I hope at least, because Taemin-hyung might have cussed someone out and the company will not be happy if that was on camera.” Beomgyu pulled another door open this one to a room.

“Okay, set him down, I’m going to grab Seonghwa-hyung. Do you know his name?”

“The ID said it was YangYang,” said Ten nodding, “I was more worried about making sure he didn’t pass out than I was about answers.” Beomgyu nodded and ran off down the hall yelling for Seonghwa as Ten carefully set YangYang on the table. YangYang’s tail was thrashing wildly like he was terrified and Ten wasn’t sure how to fix that.

“YangYang-ah, it’ll be okay. Taeil-hyung’s really nice and Namjoon-hyung wouldn’t hire someone that isn’t so I’m sure Seonghwa-ssi is great too,” said Ten gently, “they’ll fix your legs and do something for the pain.” YangYang’s tail didn’t stop and Ten frowned. The door opened and a young man that must be Seonghwa hurried in.

“Hello, you must be Ten and this is YangYang?” asked Seonghwa, “oh my that doesn’t look good. We’ll need to do X-rays and from the looks of it we’re going to have to set the bones. YangYang-ssi, have you had any pain medicine recently?” YangYang shook his head.

“Okay, have you had any medicine at all?” asked Seonghwa and YangYang nodded.

“Can you tell me what it was?”

“I don’t know, sir,” whispered YangYang, “it was to make me shut up and go to sleep so I’d stop crying.”

“A sedative then,” said Seonghwa frowning and clearly trying to run through possible sedatives in his head and how they might react with the pain medicine Bangtan had on hand.

“Alright,” said Seonghwa grabbing a bottle from a cabinet. “This one isn’t going to be nearly as strong but it won’t react to any sedatives so it’s safe to take now. We’ll get the medicine into you to help with the pain and get the X-rays taken and then Taeil-hyung will be in to help with the actual cast process. Ten-ssi, can you help YangYang-ssi sit up?” Ten nodded and carefully climbed up onto the table to help YangYang sit up, the cat hybrid went pliantly but was physically shaking in Ten’s arms. Seonghwa handed YangYang the pills and a bottle of water. YangYang was visibly hesitant to take the medicine but did it anyway.

“It should kick in pretty fast,” said Seonghwa nodding. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to go grab the X-ray machine, just sit tight.” YangYang nodded and Seonghwa hurried back out into the hallway.

“YangYang-ah, how long has it been since you’ve eaten?” asked Ten hesitantly.

“I don’t know, sir,” said YangYang nervously.

“Alright,” said Ten nodding, “I’ll text Lucas to grab food from across the street since he’s just in the waiting room.” He texted Lucas quickly and YangYang slumped into Ten a little more, obviously exhausted and still in pain.

“Can I ask one question, please?” he asked.

“You can ask as many questions as you want,” said Ten immediately, “please ask questions.” YangYang gave him a surprised look but didn’t comment on it.

“Are they going to give me something to make me sleep?”

“I don’t think so,” said Ten shaking his head, “they’ll tell us first if they’re going to use a sedative, but given that we don’t know what your old owner gave you recently it’s probably not safe to give you any kind of a sedative so you don’t need to worry about it.” YangYang looked like this hadn’t really answered his question but he nodded anyway.

“I can ask any questions?” he repeated and Ten nodded.

“Yes.”

“Am I going home with you?”

“Yeah,” said Ten nodding, “I’m living between two dorms right now so you can pick if you want to stay at the 7th Sense dorm where you’ll just share my room or if you want to share with me and Mark while I’m at the SuperM dorm. If you don’t want to go back and forth with me the others in the 7th Sense dorm will make sure you’re okay. Haechan and Jisung are Mark’s hybrids and they prefer to stay in the 7th Sense dorm all the time. Kun-hyung and Xiaojun are always in the 7th Sense dorm too and will make sure nothing happens to you while I’m with SuperM, and Hendery’s there too and he’s really nice. He’s still really nervous around us but he’s only lived with us for a few months so that’s understandable.”

“You aren’t leaving me here?” asked YangYang.

“I wasn’t planning too. If you don’t want to come back with me Namjoon-hyung keeps a list of people available to take in hybrids and we can go through the list together once the appointment is over,” said Ten and YangYang shook his head quickly scared again.

“I want to go with you please. Please don’t leave me here,” he said.

“Alright,” said Ten nodding, “then you’ll go home with me.” YangYang’s tail finally stopped lashing back and forth at that and relaxed to be hanging off the table. Seonghwa re-entered the room at that point bringing the mobile X-ray machine with him. Ten hadn’t known they even made mobile X-ray machines, but apparently they did. Seonghwa gave YangYang instructions so he could get the X-rays and Ten did his best to help when necessary, though really at this point he was just there to keep YangYang upright. Seonghwa got the X-rays done and was processing them when Taeil joined them.

“Ten,” said Taeil opening the door already looking tired. “I have to say, of everyone I was not expecting to see you today.”

“You were expecting to see one of us?” asked Ten surprised.

“Jisung and Haechan are at my house with Jaemin and Jeno and Renjun,” said Taeil with a sigh, “apparently baking cupcakes. I can’t say I had high hopes of not seeing Mark this afternoon. Hello, you must be our newest. I’m Taeil, please call me hyung, you’ll see me around a lot. Seonghwa-yah, will have the X-rays done in just a moment, while we wait, can you tell me what happened here?” YangYang looked scared again and had one of his hands holding tightly to his tail now.

“My legs broke,” he whispered finally and Taeil nodded.

“Alright,” he agreed, “I’d say that’s accurate just looking at them here. They certainly need to be set so they’ll heal properly. Ten-ah, do you know anything about the broken legs and the bruising on his neck?”

“The bruise is from his collar,” said Ten, “Lucas helped me get it off him, his owner was pulling him around by his neck and it was on pretty tight to begin with.”

“Alright, YangYang, if you’ll tilt your head back for me, I’m going to check that your throat isn’t damaged other than the bruise,” said Taeil. YangYang tilted his head back and squeezed his eyes shut. Taeil was careful to be gentle as he checked and YangYang didn’t make a sound of protest though it surely didn’t feel good.

“Okay, it looks like it’s just a bruise,” said Taeil sitting back again. “YangYang, do you want to tell me what happened to your legs or do you want Ten to tell me what he knows?” YangYang was quiet a moment.

“I wasn’t good enough and made my owner really mad,” whispered YangYang finally, “I wasn’t fast enough to get to the basement and lost my balance when she tried to help me go faster.”

“So your owner pushed you down the stairs,” said Taeil frowning, “is anywhere else hurt?” YangYang nodded hesitantly.

“Okay, I need to check, YangYang-ah,” said Taeil. YangYang looked visibly more upset by the second.

“Alright,” said Taeil taking a deep breath when it became evident YangYang didn’t want to point out where else he was hurt. “YangYang, I promise nothing bad is going to happen. I need to make sure we don’t need to do anything else for you and Ten isn’t going to care about whatever it is or whatever happened. He’ll even stay right there, okay? And you can hold onto him. But I need to know what else is hurt.” YangYang was quiet a second longer.

“I’m going home with you?” he asked Ten shifting to look at him and Ten nodded.

“Yes, you’re going home with me, I swear. I’m not leaving you here, we’re not taking you to a shelter. You’re going home with me, YangYang, the only thing that would make it so you weren’t was if you didn’t want to,” said Ten shaking his head. YangYang bit his lip and then started to carefully try and wiggle his t-shirt up over his head. Ten moved to help him quickly and Taeil and Ten both looked at his torso in silence. His ribs were a mess of bruises, what looked like obvious shoe prints were bruised into his stomach, and there were small scattered burns across his torso and upper arms, some of them old and some of them newer looking. Seonghwa turned away from the computer and raised an eyebrow.

“What the hell would’ve done that?” he asked looking at Taeil. Taeil was quiet a moment.

“The burn cream is in the last drawer there, Seonghwa-yah, can you grab it for me?” he asked moving closer to the bed. “YangYang-ah, did your old owner smoke?” YangYang shook his head.

“No, her boyfriend did though,” he said softly and Taeil nodded.

“Okay, I’m going to double check that your ribs are okay, but from the bruising I don’t think they’re broken,” said Taeil, “can I check your back?” YangYang forced himself to sit up fully and leaned forward so Taeil could see his back. It too was bruised but there were fewer burn scars, instead a strange spattering of thin scars splayed out from the center.

“What’s this?” asked Taeil frowning at it. “This isn’t a pattern I recognize.”

“Looks like glass, hyung,” said Seonghwa handing him the burn cream. “Did someone throw a bottle or something at your back, YangYang-ssi?” YangYang nodded slightly.

“It looks like it’s all healed up,” said Taeil, “you can sit back now, YangYang-ssi. I’m going to apply the burn cream and Seonghwa is going to make sure we have everything we need for the casts.”

“Right. Um, where am I going to find a wheelchair?” asked Seonghwa hesitating in the door. “We’ll have to put casts on both his legs, they’re going to need a temporary one.”

“If it’s not in the store room at the end of the hall have Beomgyu or Mingi call either Tae or Jimin, one of them will know,” said Taeil nodding and starting to apply the burn cream.

“Am I still going home with you?” asked YangYang looking back at Ten again.

“Yes,” said Ten nodding, “You’re still going home with me no matter what.”

“Okay, you can put your shirt back on,” said Taeil putting the cap back on the cream and putting it away. “Seonghwa gave you pain medicine earlier, right?”

“Yeah, he said it was mild though because YangYang doesn’t know what his owner gave him as a sedative earlier,” said Ten and Taeil nodded.

“Okay, then we’ll send you home with some of what Seonghwa gave you earlier and then some stuff that should work a little better and still won’t be addictive so you won’t have to worry about that, but don’t take it until tomorrow morning when the sedative should be completely out of your system. Have you called Kun yet, Ten?”

“Lucas said he was going to,” said Ten grimacing.

“You’ll need to make sure he gets all the instructions and knows exactly what is going on,” said Taeil nodding. “You’re promoting for SuperM right now, right? So, Kun will mostly be in charge of making sure YangYang takes his medicine?”

“I’ll make sure Kun-hyung knows everything,” said Ten nodding.

“You said I’m staying with you,” said YangYang sounding scared again and holding tightly to Ten’s ankle, one of the easiest parts of Ten for him to reach at the moment without moving too much.

“Yeah, Kun-hyung is one of my groupmates. He’s the oldest of us and isn’t moving back and forth between dorms right now. The other three hybrids will be in that dorm too, it’ll probably be an easier adjustment than coming with me to the SuperM dorms and I’m in the 7th Sense dorms a lot either way,” said Ten nodding. “Kun’s really nice and the 7th Sense dorm will be way calmer than the SuperM one right now. Donghyuck and Jisung are both cats too and Hendery’s a bunny, they’ll make sure you’re alright.”

“You said I could stay with you,” repeated YangYang sounding more worried than before. “And that I could ask questions. If I’m not staying with you then can I not ask questions either?”

“You’d still be staying with me,” said Ten nodding, “I’m just moving around a lot right now, and it’ll be easier for you if you don’t move around with me. The 7th Sense dorm will be nicer, the SuperM one is probably going to be awkward and I can’t make sure everyone will be helpful and nice to you. They’re all great people, but I’m honestly still not really sure where Baekhyun-hyung and Kai-hyung stand on the whole hybrid thing. They seem to be going back and forth. I know Kun-hyung and Xiaojun are going to do their best to make sure you’re okay and happy. Do you want to dorm hop with me? We can do that if you’d rather, but it’ll mean a lot of moving back and forth and a lot of interaction with a lot of people and you’ll have to be around the managers and staff a lot too and probably at the company a bit. The 7th Sense managers don’t come into our dorm without us being there, but the SuperM managers don’t all do that, so I won’t be able to control who might come in while I’m at the company.”

“Please don’t leave me,” stated YangYang practically begging at this point, “I’ll be really really good I promise. I can be really quiet and I know how to cook and clean too. I’ll do anything you want, please don’t leave me. I can’t keep being alone. It’s awful. Please don’t leave me.”

“Okay,” said Ten quickly petting his hair lightly, trying to calm him down, “I’m not leaving you, YangYang-ah. You don’t have to promise me anything. It’ll be okay.”

“We can register him as an official emotional support animal at the desk,” said Taeil, “it’ll get an addition to the ID book and his tags and the company and the managers can’t do anything about it if you want to bring him with you everywhere. Taeyong and Chenle did that, it’s why Chenle can tour with him.”

“He didn’t do that for Jungwoo and WinWin?” asked Ten surprised.

“They didn’t want it,” said Taeil, “Chenle’s separation anxiety was pretty bad when Taeyong first got him. Now, I’m not a therapist, but I’d guess YangYang-ah’s got a little bit of that going on, not to mention that he’s pretty badly hurt right now and is going to have to rely on someone to help him, and I’d guess you’re the only person that has even attempted to be helpful. Is that right, YangYang?” YangYang nodded hesitantly.

“He tried really hard not to make it worse when he had to pick me up,” whispered YangYang, “my owner didn’t even pick me up, just drug me everywhere and yelled when I couldn’t walk on my own.”

“Okay,” said Ten nodding, “then we’ll get you registered as emotional support and you come everywhere with me if that’s what you want.” Seonghwa opened the door back up bringing the supplies and the wheelchair with him and he and Taeil set about getting the casts ready and setting YangYang’s bones. YangYang screamed in pain and held tightly to Ten as they set the bones but it was over pretty quickly and he had casts on both legs and Taeil was explaining the medicine to Ten again while Seonghwa helped YangYang into the wheelchair and showed him how to maneuver it.

“I think you’re all set,” said Taeil looking over the two of them, “you know he needs to gain weight, right? But Kun will know what to do to help with that because he’s still got all the information from Hendery’s visit, right?”

“Right,” said Ten nodding, “and we’ll call you or Taeyong-hyung if we have questions.”

“You have ownership papers, right?” asked Taeil and Ten nodded.

“Can I ask now how exactly this happened or do I get to hear it from one of the boys when I get home tonight?” asked Taeil.

“You do have other patients, hyung,” pointed out Seonghwa.

“And our manager’s waiting for us. Call me later okay, hyung? That way we’re not cutting into your work time anymore than we already have,” said Ten and Taeil nodded smiling.

“Alright, I’ll call you,” he said, “if I don’t see Mark first.”

“Right, just Hyuck and Jisung?” asked Ten frowning, “then Hendery stayed home?”

“That or he’s across the street,” said Taeil shrugging.

“Hendery-ssi? Mingi, said he was with Jongho-yah,” said Seonghwa distractedly, “and Jisung. Something about the bunny maknae line? I think they’re pranking Jungkook-ssi.” Taeil chuckled.

“Right, well, you wish Kun luck with that phone call from Jin-hyung,” he said and Ten laughed nodding.

“Do you have any last minute questions, YangYang-ah?” asked Taeil looking at the cat who was watching the others nervously.

“No, sir,” said YangYang shaking his head quickly.

“Okay, then you’re good to go out to the front. Beomgyu-ya and Mingi-ah should have everything you need. Tell one of them you need to register him as emotional support too, Ten-ah,” said Taeil nodding, “they’ll just process it with all the other paperwork.”

“Thank you, hyung,” said Ten nodding and handing YangYang the bag with his medicine. Seonghwa pulled the door open for them and Ten steered YangYang’s wheelchair out into the hallway. Seonghwa held the door to the lobby open for them too before calling the next patient back as Ten steered YangYang over to the desk. Mingi was talking to an annoyed looking customer and Beomgyu waved them over.

“I need you to sign stuff, Ten-hyung,” said Beomgyu pulling out papers. “Lucas-hyung went across the street for food and said he’d wait with the manager in the car.”

“Okay,” agreed Ten nodding, “what do you need me to sign?” Beomgyu pointed out the right places on the paper to sign.

“The ID book is updated and we’ll get the identification tag printed off for you. You know that Got Books has the nearest name tag machine, right?” asked Beomgyu and Ten nodded. “Jackson-hyung has English letters on the machine too if YangYang wants his name in English and Korean. If you want any other languages added though you’ll have to special order it, hyung. I don’t know where you might find other languages in Seoul.” Ten nodded.

“Okay, thanks, Gyu-ah. Taeil-hyung said you could register YangYang as emotional support so he can do the tours and stuff and come to practice with me? So the company doesn’t get mad about it,” said Ten and Beomgyu nodded and turned to pull out more papers.

“Mark doesn’t have that for Donghyuck-hyung and Jisung?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” said Ten shaking his head, “but the management team has always been fine with them coming on tour since he doesn’t exactly have somewhere to leave them? But neither of them have ever wanted to be anywhere near the company building and Hendery still doesn’t really want to leave the dorm much at all, so it’s not been a problem yet? Taeil-hyung said Taeyong-hyung’s got one for Chenle-yah?”

“Yeah,” said Beomgyu nodding, “Han-hyung and Chan-hyung do too, though I’m not sure they’ve got one signed for Felix-hyung and Innie? Soobin-hyung said they used it when Han-hyung traveled with Chan-hyung for music stuff in the past, but they haven’t traveled as much in a few years and Han-hyung started staying with Jin-hyung or Jackson-hyung instead, and well with the whole trial thing they’re really not leaving the country at all right now. Oh my god, did Taeil-hyung tell you that they’re sending him death threats online now? Here, you need to sign this here and here and Mingi-hyung will have to sign it too because it’s not legal if I do it.” Ten signed the paper.

“They’re sending Channie death threats again? Are the kids alright?” asked Ten.

“They’re fine,” said Beomgyu nodding. “They got extra locks installed on all the doors and we’re pretty sure that the death threats are empty anyway. It’s a scare tactic. The police are paying too much attention to catching Black Rose right now for them to be risking going after a music producer. And Namjoon-hyung’s friend in the police department is making sure there’s extra patrol on their street just in case.”

“Is that why Jeongin’s been calling Jisung-ah more often?” asked Ten curious.

“Maybe,” said Beomgyu shrugging, “but that might be because Seungmin-hyung’s been pretty excited about his classes this semester and has a favorite professor and is involved in research too, so he’s not home as often.”

“Seungmin’s helping with research?” asked Ten surprised.

“Yeah, something about psychology and neural pathways,” said Beomgyu nodding. “You know Seungcheol-hyung and Joshua-hyung on the next street right? Well, Joshua-hyung doesn’t like to leave their house or store like at all, so Dr. Nam comes to them, he does house visits sometimes, you know? But he’s also a professor at Seungmin’s school and is who Seungmin is helping with research.”

“That’s cool. Isn’t he your doctor?” asked Ten and Beomgyu nodded. “Also, I thought Joshua-hyung was Yuta-hyung’s friend? Wasn’t he at the last thing at Jin’s? I swear that’s where I met him.” 

“Yeah, that’s one of the few things that make his list of things to leave the house for,” said Beomgyu shrugging and taking the papers from Ten.

“Mingi-hyung, you need to sign this for Ten-hyung,” said Beomgyu and Mingi glanced at it and nodded.

“Okay, you’ve got everything else, right?” asked Mingi.

“Yeah,” said Beomgyu nodding and turning back to Ten and YangYang. He offered YangYang a sucker but YangYang shook his head quickly.

“You sure? You can save it for later,” said Beomgyu.

“No, thanks,” insisted YangYang and Beomgyu shrugged.

“You’re coming to dinner on Sunday, right? It’s cold so we’re all going to cram into Chan-hyung’s living room,” said Beomgyu, “because Felix still hates the cold and Innie doesn’t love it and if Hendery’s coming too we’ll definitely be inside and Kun-hyung told Taeil-hyung they were coming with Hyuck-hyung and Jisungie this weekend, but he wasn’t sure if Mark was going to be there?”

“I don’t know,” said Ten shaking his head. “I think we have practice Sunday night.”

“Damn,” said Beomgyu scrunching his nose. “The others are going to want to meet YangYang-hyung. Hey, have you talked to Chan-hyung this week or heard from Taeyong-hyung about anything? Because Soobin-hyung told me and Yeonjun-hyung that some kid that dropped out of a trainee program to try and produce music instead asked Chan-hyung if he could work with him.”

“Did Chan say yes?” asked Ten curious.

“Hyung didn’t know but we think so because Chan-hyung was talking to him and Jin-hyung about how he might turn his freelance producer thing into a little business with multiple people and how that would be cool and it’d give Hannie somewhere to channel some of his music other than just soundcloud. Changbin-hyung might want to do that too, you know? And I swear Yoongi-hyung has lyrics hidden somewhere in his and Hoseok-hyung’s apartment.” Ten laughed slightly at that and Mingi handed Beomgyu back the papers so he could get it processed.

“Chan-hyung did say yes. I met Hongjoong-hyung recently, he’s super nice,” said Mingi nodding. “Jongho-yah ran into them at Jin’s. Yunho-hyung’s his Golden Retriever hybrid and apparently decided he loved Jongho-yah immediately which is fair honestly, Jongho-yah’s cute how can you not love him?” Ten nodded shrugging, that was fair and could be applied to most of the bunny hybrids in their group, they were cute and fun people to be around and the cuteness made up for when they decided they wanted to prank you.

“That’s good,” said Ten nodding and briefly wondering how he had ended up involved in all these people’s lives again. Right. Taeyong-hyung was friends with them when the group was only just starting to get decently big and a few years later here they are.

“Did Taeyong-hyung aggressively adopt us into his family?” asked Ten frowning and Mingi snorted and slapped a hand over his mouth.

“What! That’s a fair question,” complained Ten as Beomgyu laughed loudly.

“Did he? He totally did, right? Oh my god, that’s how we’re involved in so much of your drama. Beomgyu-yah, I should not have any connection to Seungcheol-hyung and Joshua-hyung on the next street over. I’ve never been in their flower shop. I don’t think I’ve had more than three sentences with them,” said Ten baffled while the other two laughed at him.

“Wait, does that mean Taeyong-hyung aggressively adopted, Taeil-hyung, Doyoung-hyung, and Johnny-hyung and everyone associated with them too?” asked Beomgyu sorting out the papers while the tag machine ran.

“I’m pretty sure it does, because I’m pretty sure every group activity with everyone is organize by him and his three,” said Ten frowning and trying to think about it. “I guess it’s a good thing he hasn’t live in a dorm in years.”

“You know what we might have accidentally done the exact same thing to Hyuka,” said Beomgyu thoughtfully as he handed Ten the papers he would need. “Those are the ownership rights and the ID, you need to keep track of those, hyung. Mark and Kun-hyung can help you with finding decent collars.” The tag finished and Beomgyu turned to grab it while Ten put the papers in his pocket. Mingi ran his card for him while Beomgyu double-checked the tag had printed the right information. Beomgyu handed Ten the tag and Ten added it to the items in his pocket before taking his card back from Mingi.

“Alright, you’re all set,” said Mingi and Beomgyu nodded in agreement.

“Thank you,” said Ten nodding and getting ready to go.

“Oh! Wait,” said Beomgyu grabbing a sticky note and scribbling on it before leaning over the counter to hand it to YangYang. “That’s my number, you text me when Ten-hyung gets you your phone, okay? I’ll add you to the 00s and under groupchat and the cat groupchat.” YangYang looked at him with wide eyes but nodded hesitantly.

“Thank you?” he said taking the sticky note from him.

“I know you probably don’t want to go out a whole lot right now, but we’re totally willing to come to you too and some of the others don’t like to leave the house either so sometimes we just play games online together,” said Beomgyu nodding. “Ten-hyung’s only kind of kidding that Taeyong-hyung aggressively adopted them. You’re sorta stuck with us now.” YangYang nodded still looking bewildered.

“Okay,” he said.

“You do know that Hendery, Donghyuck, and Jisung all have your number and will give it to him, right?” asked Ten raising an eyebrow.

“No, no. I met him first, I have first dibs on being the first text conversation, respect the rules, hyung,” insisted Beomgyu and Ten laughed.

“Okay, we’ll try to be by sometime soon to one of the things, okay?” said Ten and both receptionists agreed and hurried Ten out the door telling him to get YangYang home. Lucas rolled down his window in the car and waved at them.

“Yo, YangYang-ah, now you can draw on your casts,” said Lucas brightly as he got out of the car to help Ten and YangYang figure out the wheelchair and getting YangYang into the car.

“Why?” asked YangYang baffled. “Sorry. Sorry.” He flinched back slightly and Ten grunted trying to keep him from falling over.

“Because it’ll look cool?” asked Lucas frowning, “I think Hendery has a lot of colorful markers and he’d be happy to share. Donghyuck and Jisung and Xiaojun will all want to draw on them for you. Besides drawing on them and getting them signed is the best part about having a cast. Did Taeil-hyung say how long you needed them?”

“Six to eight weeks, probably closer to eight,” said Ten nodding and shoving the wheelchair into the back of the car. Lucas climbed back into the front seat and Ten got into the car quickly. Their manager pulled out of the parking space and glanced back to double check he had everyone for a split second.

“Are we dropping him off with Kun and Xiaojun at the 7th Sense dorm?” asked their manager, “or is he going with you to the SuperM one? You have early dance practice in the morning you need to keep in mind.”

“The SuperM dorm, YangYang-ah’s going to stay with me,” said Ten nodding.

“You don’t want to go to the dorm with the other hybrids?” asked Lucas surprised looking back at YangYang.

“Uh, YangYang-ah sorta panicked a little when I suggested it,” said Ten shaking his head, “so he’s going to stay with me. Probably for awhile.” Their manager sighed apparently coming to the right conclusion.

“Am I going to need to turn around so you can register him as emotional support? The company isn’t going to let him in if he’s not,” he said.

“I already did,” said Ten nodding, “The PA suggested it.”

“Oh, good,” said their manager nodding.

“Jungwoo-hyung and WinWin-hyung aren’t registered as emotional support and they’re allowed in the building,” said Lucas confused.

“From what I understand from Taeyong’s manager, Chenle is registered as emotional support so he can come on tours, but the other two only have security clearance because there were too many incidents of staff members finding him sleeping in the studio or not sleeping and just working until he passed out,” said their manager, “so all three of his hybrids have clearance so they can come find him if he’s not at home and convince him to sleep. It’s an unusual occurrence, though some instructors and staff members will be more lenient than others. The EXO managers are pretty adamant about hybrids not being around to be distracting, but if you have him registered as emotional support already you won’t have to worry about that. I’ll take care of anything they might say about it.”

“Really?” asked Ten surprised, “you don’t have to do that. I can do that.”

“That’s my job,” said their manger shaking his head, “dealing with other managers is a big part of my job description. Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it. Actually, if you have problems tell them to talk to me and I’ll deal with it. Do the others know he’s coming home with you?”

“I mean, they probably know it’s a possibility,” said Ten.

“I already called to tell Kun-hyung and he said he would talk to everyone else,” said Lucas.

“Alright, well, I think a couple of the others have schedules this evening,” said their manager nodding. “So the dorm is probably going to be somewhat quiet.”

“Neither dorm is ever quiet unless no one’s there,” said Lucas shaking his head.

“Technically I think it’s quiet when it’s just Hendery and Kun-hyung at the 7th Sense dorm,” said Ten thoughtfully. 

“That doesn’t count. It’s practically guaranteed one of them is napping,” said Lucas.

“Hey, you speak Mandarin, right YangYang-ah?” asked Ten, “Lucas is from Hong Kong and a Kun-hyung and Xiaojun-ah and Hendery-yah all speak Mandarin too.”

“Oh, that’s awesome!” said Lucas brightly, “hell, yeah that means I get to be your ge and your hyung.” YangYang looked at him with wide eyes clearly frightened and baffled by that sentence.

“And Mark is Canadian, so he’ll probably be pretty excited you speak English too,” said Ten nodding. “Also, please call us hyung or ge over anything else.” YangYang just looked more baffled by that.

“Okay,” he said hesitantly nodding. It’s only a few more minutes before the manager is pulling up to the SuperM dorm and Lucas and Ten are helping YangYang with the wheelchair again and saying goodbye to their manager. Lucas ran off to put the medicine away and see who all was home while Ten gave YangYang a quick tour and then took him to the room he shared with Mark. Mark was sprawled on his stomach on the bed with his headphones in and waved cheerfully when they entered.

“Oh cool, casts, now you get to draw on them,” he said pulling his headphones down and sitting up. “Are you staying with me and Ten-hyung, then?” YangYang nodded quickly and Mark grinned.

“Cool, cool,” he agreed. “Donghyuck and Jisung are at the 7th Sense dorms they don’t ever stay at the SuperM dorms with us. I think Taemin-hyung and Baekhyun-hyung and Kai-hyung still sort of scare them. Hendery-yah doesn’t ever leave the 7th Sense dorms without Kun-hyung, or at least very rarely.”

“Bangtan’s new nurse said that he’s with Jongho and Han pranking Jungkook tonight,” said Ten shaking his head. “Also, did you know Bangtan finally hired another nurse?”

“Yeah,” said Mark nodding, “wait. How did you not know? Hendery told us that Jongho had mentioned it in the bunny chat weeks ago now. Seonghwa, right? Isn’t he Minho-hyung’s age?”

“Is he? That seems really young for a nurse,” said Ten frowning and Mark cocked his head trying to do the math then shook it.

“No, if I’d done college in four years right out of high school I could be doing internships for nursing this school semester and then be working, and I’m younger than he is. It’d have to be a school with a nursing program though, but I’m pretty sure hybrid nurses are fast tracked like the doctors are.”

“Maybe I’m old,” said Ten rolling his eyes. “We’re going to have to figure out where to put another bed in here.”

“I’m hearing bunk beds,” said Mark brightly.

“That seems like a terrible idea,” said Ten shaking his head. “We’ll get one delivered in the morning, YangYang-ah will sleep in mine tonight and you and I will share.” Mark agreed readily at that.

YangYang doesn’t adjust fast, which they should have been expecting. Hendery was still adjusting to living in the dorm with them, but YangYang doesn’t hardly talk to any of the other hybrids either which is definitely weird. Hendery had latched on to both the cats pretty quickly but YangYang was quiet and awkward around all three of the 7th Sense hybrids, avoided Chen when he was in the SuperM dorms, and seemed almost afraid of Chenle when he met him at the building once. Ten didn’t know what to do about that at all, and Mark seemed just as lost. Ten was the only person so far YangYang would hold a conversation with, and even then that was a loose definition of the word. The staff they were working with for the comeback had been annoyed at first that YanngYang was going everywhere with Ten but had stopped complaining when they realized he really wasn’t going to be a distraction or loud or cause any kind of problems. After the first month passed YangYang still didn’t interact with most of them at all, but he was on his phone a lot and Ten knew that it was because he was talking to the cat groupchat that Beomgyu had added him too, and YangYang talked to Ten a lot more and would ask him for things if he needed help now. Which meant he was improving a little bit. He even said hello to Beomgyu first when they returned to Bangtan to get the casts off and Beomgyu had chatted with him while Ten got everything taken care of with Mingi, so at least Ten knew YangYang was sort of making friends. So Ten knew that YangYang was doing better but he was still worried about leaving him at the SuperM dorms alone. They hadn’t had to go on another live show until this week and YangYang couldn’t and didn’t want to come for that and stand backstage with the managers. So it would be the first time he was completely alone in the dorm for more than thirty minutes, but he had insisted he would be fine and Ten had fussed until YangYang had spoken up and told him he had to go or he and Taeyong and Kai would be late. The other boys had different schedules for the day and only the three of them would be on this show, but YangYang should be alone in the dorm.

“Okay, if you hear anyone come in, it might be the managers, and you remember that they can’t give you orders, right? So just lock the door and call Kun-hyung,” said Ten, “Chen’s here too, but he won’t come find you so don’t worry about him. The others aren’t supposed to be back before us but they might be if their schedules end early. Taemin-hyung isn’t coming back to the dorm tonight though, he said he was staying at his apartment, and I think Mark is staying at the other dorm. So Baekhyun-hyung might come back early but he knows you’re here amd to leave you alone unless you need him. So if you need something please ask him. I know he’s not exactly the nicest but he’s not just going to refuse to help you, I promise.”

“Hyung, go,” insisted YangYang nodding, “I remember. I will be okay. Your manager is going to yell at you, hyung.”

“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” asked Ten worriedly.

“Yes. Go. I promise I will call Kun-ge if something is wrong,” said YangYang firmly. Ten nodded.

“Okay, okay. I’ll be back tonight with Lucas,” said Ten nodding. “We might decide to sleep at 7th Sense instead, so we’ll pick you up if we do.” YangYang nodded.

“Okay, hyung,” he agreed and Ten hugged him tightly.

“Okay, don’t forget to grab something from the kitchen for dinner. If it doesn’t have a name on it, it’s fair game,” said Ten nodding. “If you don’t want to eat alone, Chen-hyung will eat with you.”

“Hyung, you have to go,” said YangYang seeing Taeyong come around the corner obviously looking for Ten.

“Ten-ah, come on. YangYang-ah will be fine. He has Kun’s number if he needs something and Chen-hyung’s here,” said Taeyong nodding. “We need to go before the manager comes looking.” Ten nodded and let go of YangYang before following Taeyong down the hall.

“Bye, love you!” he called and YangYang waved back.

“Bye, hyung,” he replied and then softer once Ten had disappeared out of sight. “Love you too.” He pulled the door shut and locked it quickly. It was weird living somewhere that had locks he was allowed to use against the humans that lived in the house, but it definitely made him feel safer. He moved over to the window that faced the front of the building to watch as Ten and Taeyong climbed into the car and drove off. He could do this. He was fine. Ten would be back in a few hours and YangYang was perfectly safe. The only other person that had a key to the room was Mark and Mark wouldn’t hurt him. YangYang wasn’t very close with Donghyuck and Jisung but he knew that they wouldn’t have lied to him about Mark, and both of them had sworn up and down that Mark wouldn’t hurt him. He climbed up into his bed that was pushed back into the corner nearest where Lucas and Ten had pulled Ten’s bed out further along the wall to fit an extra bed in the room. He decided he was going to kill time by playing on his phone and talking to Hendery and Beomgyu when he got bored. The time passed by pretty quickly which meant when he heard the front door open it had been a few hours and he realized it was late enough that he should probably eat so Ten wouldn’t be worried when he got home. Footsteps sounded down the hall and YangYang held his breath, they stopped outside the door.

“YangYang, you in there? Ten said you stayed home today,” called a familiar voice. Baekhyun wasn’t supposed to be home yet, his schedule must have been cancelled. “Thought I’d let you know I got home early so you didn’t panic about the noise.” Shit. YangYang needed to talk to him now.

“Um, thanks,” he called and immediately winced, hopefully that was loud enough for Baekhyun to hear.

“Right, well. Chen’s in our room and I’m going to grab dinner if you want food, I’ll heat some extra,” said Baekhyun. YangYang didn’t really want to eat with Baekhyun but he also knew that Ten would worry if he got home and found out YangYang hadn’t eaten. It wasn’t that Baekhyun was mean or anything, he was fine. He was just weird and not much like the others. He was nice, but he didn’t seem to know what he was doing around YangYang. He always acted really awkward and like he was trying to force himself to be extra nice, because he knew YangYang was Ten’s and Ten acted like YangYang was a person. Sure, Ten probably babied him more than YangYang really needed at his age and more than Mark did with his hybrids, but honestly it was nice. YangYang felt better knowing Ten was going out of his way to watch out for him. Like how he had made sure to tell Baekhyun that YangYang was in the dorm so Baekhyun wouldn’t get mad at YangYang for startling him. He heard Baekhyun shift awkwardly and realized he must have been quiet for too long.

“Right, well, I’ll be out here if you need me and Chen’s down the hall,” said Baekhyun and YangYang hesitated a split second just enough that he heard Baekhyun start down the hallway, before he climbed out of the bed and unlocked the door. He held tightly to his cell phone and followed Baekhyun down the hallway quietly. Baekhyun had paused when he heard the door open and gave him a surprised look.

“I’ll eat with you,” said YangYang quietly, “Ten-ge will worry if I don’t eat, I’ll be quiet I swear.”

“No, no, that’s okay,” said Baekhyun quickly as he started back towards the kitchen YangYang still following. “I know you don’t like me much, just pretend I’m one of the others, it’s fine okay? Do you want to pick a tv show?” YangYang hesitated. Picking would mean potentially picking something that Baekhyun wouldn’t like, but it also meant that YangYang wouldn’t have to be in the kitchen with him so YangYang nodded.

“Alright, you pick something and I’ll see what’s in the fridge,” he instructed and YangYang went to go find the TV remote. Baekhyun rummaged in the kitchen while YangYang picked a show he thought Baekhyun probably wouldn’t hate at the very least.

“Hey, YangYang-ah, do you know why this fruit dish has Ten’s name on it?” asked Baekhyun. “Did one of the managers label it?”

“Probably,” said YangYang confused, Ten hated fruit. “Ten-ge doesn’t like fruit, sir.”

“Well, alright. Then I’m going to use it,” said Baekhyun and then it was quiet again as he finished. The microwave sounded a moment later and Baekhyun joined YangYang in the living room, handing him one of the plates before sitting down in one of the chairs.

“Oh good pick,” he said looking at the TV. YangYang nodded slightly, glad he hadn’t accidentally angered the older boy and he picked up the remote again to start the show. Baekhyun started eating and YangYang settled in, pulling his legs up into the chair to get comfortable before picking his plate back up. He scrunched his nose slightly. Something smelled weird. What was that? YangYang didn’t want to smell that. Was it the food? He frowned at the plate and sniffed it slightly.

“Something wrong?” asked Baekhyun raising an eyebrow. “Didn’t think you were a picky eater.” YangYang’s stomach clenched slightly at that but something was definitely wrong.

“Do you smell that?” he asked hesitantly, putting the plate aside and moving towards the kitchen.

“No?” said Baekhyun baffled and taking another bite. “If you don’t want to eat it, don’t. Chen’ll eat it and you can pick something else out.”

“You really don’t smell that?” asked YangYang taking a deep breath again and trying to see if it was in the kitchen. It was definitely in the kitchen. He sniffed a couple of the containers. Baekhyun didn’t respond and YangYang picked up another container to sniff it. This one smelled weird. He frowned. It had Ten’s name scrawled on the side of it, but that wasn’t Ten’s handwriting. Actually, it didn’t look like any of the member’s handwriting. He sniffed it again. It didn’t smell like fruit. What the hell was that smell and why did it make YangYang’s stomach churn. It was gross. It smelled toxic. It smelled like the food had that one time years and years ago that one of the shelters in Germany had put something weird in the food they gave to the cat that used to be in the cage next to him. Poison. It smelled like poison. Panic shot through YangYang and he bolted back to the living room.

“Baekhyun-hyung,” he yelled, “don’t.” He stopped mid-sentence Baekhyun had fallen out of his chair already and looked very disoriented, clutching his stomach, his face was screwed up in pain.

“Chen!” screamed YangYang setting the plastic container on the table and trying to pull Baekhyun up to his feet. He had to get him over a trashcan now.

“Chen!” The door down the hallway opened and running footsteps came towards him as YangYang manhandled Baekhyun over to the trashcan.

“YangYang? What’s wrong?” asked Chen’s voice still not in the living room.

“The phone, get the phone. You have to call an ambulance now,” instructed YangYang managing to get Baekhyun slumped over the trashcan.

“Oh my god. What’s happening?” asked Chen freezing in the living room.

“Call the ambulance now. I’m going to make him throw it up. Tell them he ate poison,” instructed YangYang firmly. “Baekhyun-hyung, can you hear me? I’m going to force you to throw it up. Try to take deep breaths.” Chen ran to find a phone and seconds later YangYang heard him panicking as he tried to answer the operator’s questions. YangYang managed to pry Baekhyun’s mouth open and shove his fingers down his throat. YangYang did his best to split his focus between the sound of Chen coming back towards him trying to answer questions while also making sure Baekhyun threw up everything he had eaten.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what he ate. He doesn’t look awake. YangYang’s making him throw it up. Okay. No. I have no idea what it could have been. There’s not cleaner in the kitchen. Nothing like that,” said Chen, “it smells god awful.”

“It was in a container in the fridge,” said YangYang, “it had Ten-hyung’s name on it but it’s not hyung’s and it’s not in a handwriting I recognize.”

“It was in the fridge,” said Chen into the phone, “in a container that we don’t know where it came from. It had one of the group members names on it, but it’s not his and it’s not something he would have eaten anyway. No. No one was supposed to be home until way later. YangYang, they’ll be here in two minutes. I don’t know. Yes. Yes. I have someone I can call to meet us at the hospital. He won’t be fast.” Chen kept trying to answer questions for the woman on the phone and then there was banging on their door only a few minutes later as YangYang checked Baekhyun’s pulse when he’d thrown up everything in his stomach. Chen ran to get the door and the paramedics came in moments later, followed by police officers.

“You had him throw it up?” asked one of the paramedics looking at YangYang, “smart. How’d you know how to do that?” YangYang squeaked slightly and felt his face flush bright red at the noise that came out of him from being surprised by being addressed.

“One of the shelters sometimes poisoned the older hybrids,” he whispered nervously. The paramedic grimaced and nodded.

“It’s just the three of you here?” he asked as the other two focused on Baekhyun, he must be the driver. YangYang nodded in response.

“Get your collars and IDs,” said the paramedic, “you’re coming to the hospital with us. The police will need to look things over and there’s no telling when your place will be safe again.” YangYang hesitated a split second before running off down the hall to grab a collar for him and one for Chen, both of their IDs and shoes for both of them. Chen had hung up on the phone when he came back and YangYang shoved his items at him.

“Come on,” he said pulling on his elbow to get him over to the paramedics that were already headed out the door. Chen grabbed the container on the way out just in case.

“You two are up front with me so you’re not in the way,” instructed the paramedic. YangYang and Chen hurried to follow instructions and the ambulance pulled out onto the street. YangYang clipped his collar around his neck quickly and started pulling on his shoes. Chen followed suit but much slower since he kept glancing back towards the back where Baekhyun and the other two paramedics were.

“He’ll be okay,” said the paramedic, “we’ll flush it out of his system. Is that the container?”

“Yes, sir,” said Chen gripping the container tighter.

“Good thinking,” said the paramedic nodding. “Is he your owner?”

“He’s my owner, sir,” said Chen, “YangYang’s owner is Ten, he had a schedule tonight, everyone else did. Oh! Oh, I need to call Taemin-hyung.” He handed the container to YangYang and pulled the phone back out of his pocket to call Taemin. The paramedic nodded.

“Does someone have secondary guardianship for you if he has to spend a few nights?” asked the paramedic.

“Kai does,” said YangYang softly, “and I think Suho.” Chen nodded as he talked to Taemin.

“Good,” said the paramedic as he turned them towards the hospital. They pulled in and the paramedics jumped out and rushed Baekhyun inside. YangYang and Chen followed quickly, not sure where they were supposed to be going. One of the nurses intercepted them as they took Baekhyun back behind a set of doors.

“We need his information, come fill it out, or as much of it as you can. Is that what the poison was in?” she asked and YangYang nodded and held it out to her.

“Good, good, now we can figure out what we’re dealing with,” she stated taking it from him, “stay here in the waiting room. The nurse at the desk will make sure no one bothers you since this is an emergency situation. Normally hybrids aren’t allowed without their owners present, stay together and stay in sight of the nurse at the desk.” Both hybrids nodded hurriedly and the nurse ran off through the doors, taking the container with her. Chen put the phone back in his pocket and headed over towards the desk.

“You came in with the poison case?” asked the nurse at the desk.

“Yes, sir,” said Chen nodding, “they said we could wait here until Baekhyun-hyung’s okay or one of the others picks us up.”

“Yes, yes, that’s fine. You stay in my sight okay? Otherwise I can’t authorize you staying with the doctors,” said the nurse nodding. “I need his information. Can you fill things in for me?” Chen nodded and the nurse handed him a clipboard.

“Alright, you fill that out and bring it back. Do you need me to call someone for you?”

“No, I called Taemin-ssi in the ambulance,” said Chen shaking his head.

“Okay, just fill that out and bring it back,” said the nurse nodding. “Will Taemin have any information you don’t?” Chen shook his head and the nurse nodded.

“Alright, just pick a seat,” he said gesturing to the waiting room. Chen led the way over to a pair of seats in the back corner and started carefully filling it out as YangYang took the seat next to him and pulled his knees to his chest. There were so many people in here and he didn’t know any of them and Ten-hyung wasn’t here with him. He wanted to go home, but Chen couldn’t be alone and going home meant being alone with the police, and Baekhyun may not be okay. He dropped his face into his knees and tried to count his breathing. Now was not a good time to panic. He could panic when Ten or literally anyone else got here. Chen patted his knee softly to get his attention.

“I’m taking this to the nurse, stay right here,” he said carefully and YangYang nodded quickly. Chen hurried to take the clipboard to the nurse and hurried back just as quickly, apparently worried about leaving YangYang alone.

“You okay, YangYang-ah?” asked Chen quietly, trying not to draw too much attention to them.

“Should have gone to the stupid show with hyung,” whispered YangYang.

“Personally, I’m pretty glad you didn’t,” said Chen quietly, “I wouldn’t have known what to do and wouldn’t have known anything had happened until it was way too late.”

“I hate this. People are staring,” whispered YangYang.

“Taemin-hyung will be here soon,” said Chen, “stay close, okay? No one can get to you without having to go through me first, and Taemin-hyung will be here soon and the others will be done soon and you can go home with Ten.” YangYang nodded and tried to keep counting his breathing so he wouldn’t panic much more. It felt like everyone in the waiting room was staring at them. It helped a little to know that Chen was going to do his best to make sure nothing bad happened to YangYang while it was just the two of them, but he really wanted to go home now.

“You could call the other 7th Sense boys,” suggested Chen after a few minutes of silence and YangYang shook his head.

“They had schedules at the company tonight,” he explained.

“Ah,” said Chen nodding, “okay. That’s okay. We’re fine.”

“Right, we’re fine,” agreed YangYang softly. Time moves slowly and YangYang’s not sure how long it is until there’s a commotion at the front but it feels like hours. Chen perked up apparently seeing what the commotion was and YangYang looked up to see.

“Taemin’s here,” said Chen seeing the idol making his way to the nurse at the desk, there was a dog hybrid with him, he looked like an expensive breed and was following along at Taemin’s shoulder but looking through the waiting room at the people. YangYang couldn’t tell if the dog was trying to make sure people left Taemin alone or if he was looking for them. The nurse at the desk looked a little bit blindsided to suddenly be talking to Taemin, apparently not having connected the dots between the Taemin Chen had called being Taemin, but he pointed to where Chen and YangYang were and Taemin turned to look for them.

“Chen-hyung, YangYang-ah, come here, they’re going to let us go back,” he called. Chen stood up and offered a hand to YangYang who grabbed it tightly and hurriedly followed the older hybrid over to Taemin.

“The nurse said he’s okay,” said Taemin leading the way to the doors and walking into the hall. He scanned the sign to determine the right direction to the room number Baekhyun was in.

“I don’t think he’s awake yet, but the nurse said he was stable and you got him here on time and that we can take him home if he wakes up tonight,” said Taemin nodding, “sorry it took so long to get here. We had to call Onew-hyung to get his relatives to let me take Key-hyung with me. Oh, right. This is Key-hyung. He’s Onew-hyung’s hybrid, but he’s staying with me for the rest of Onew-hyung’s military service. Key-hyung, that’s Chen-hyung, he’s Baekhyun-hyung’s hybrid, and YangYang-ah, he’s Ten’s.” Key nodded slightly at that.

“YangYang-ah, are you alright?” asked Taemin and YangYang hesitantly nodded.

“Is Ten-ge almost done?” he asked quietly.

“Yes, soon. I called the manager so he’s bringing him and Kai straight here,” said Taemin nodding. “Do we know how this happened?”

“There was a container in the fridge with Ten-hyung’s name on it, but it was full of fruit so me and Baekhyun-hyung were going to eat it,” said YangYang hesitantly, “it smelled really weird though. I couldn’t figure out if it was the food or what it was and Baekhyun-hyung said he didn’t smell anything.”

“That’s why you’re not sick then, you were trying to figure out what the smell was and he’d eaten some already,” said Taemin, “good, at least we only need to worry about Baekhyun-hyung. It had Ten’s name on it?”

“It didn’t match any of your handwriting,” said Chen shaking his head.

“So somehow poisoned food meant for Ten got into the dorm, but they weren’t smart enough to know that Ten doesn’t eat fruit,” said Taemin frowning. “Did you call the police?”

“Yes,” said Chen nodding, “that’s why me and YangYang are both here. The paramedic had us both come with them since the police were going to be in the dorm and we wouldn’t be able to lock the door and make sure we were safe.”

“That’s good,” said Taemin nodding and apparently finding the right door.

“He’s really okay?” asked Chen ears flicking back slightly as he looked at Taemin who nodded.

“That’s what the nurse said,” he said as he pushed the door open. “Oh, hello. The nurse said we could come back.” The doctor inside was filling out a chart on a tablet and looked up.

“Oh, yes, of course. He’s stable now and perfectly fine. We’re just waiting for him to wake up and you can take him home,” said the doctor. “You’re very lucky that someone made him throw up the majority of the poison.”

“You made him throw up?” asked Taemin looking at Chen who shook his head.

“YangYang did,” said the dog hybrid pointing to YangYang who was still holding tightly to him and was practically hiding behind him. Taemin looked at YangYang surprised and so did the doctor.

“A cat hybrid saved his life? Huh, well you don’t see that every day,” he said shaking his head. “Hit that button there when he wakes up. Are we expecting anymore visitors?”

“Two more,” said Taemin nodding, “thank you for your help.” The doctor leaves after that and Chen takes the seat closest to Baekhyun, Taemin and Key claim the other two seats and YangYang sits in the corner of the bench against the window. The older three talk quietly as they wait for either the others to arrive or for Baekhyun to wake up and YangYang just listens in the window and time feels like it’s moving too fast and not moving at all. Which means when the door opens and it’s Kai and Ten it feels like no time has passed but at the same time as if it had been the whole night.

“Hey, is he okay? The manager said we can’t go back to the SuperM dorm tonight because the police are trying to figure out who did this,” said Kai moving over towards Taemin who filled him in quickly on what the doctor had said. Ten walked straight over to YangYang who had his face in his knees again.

“YangYang-ah?” he asked and YangYang’s head snapped up and he practically threw himself at Ten who caught him and held on tightly to him.

“Thank god you’re okay,” said Ten into the side of YangYang’s head where he had buried his face. “And Baekhyun-hyung. You didn’t eat any of it, right?” YangYang shook his head quickly.

“No. It smelled weird but I didn’t figure out what it was fast enough to stop Baekhyun-hyung,” said YangYang into Ten’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I should’ve realized way faster and then we wouldn’t have to be here.”

“It is not your fault. You did way more than anyone expected you to,” said Ten still holding onto him. “There’s an uber outside waiting for us, unless you want to wait for Baekhyun-hyung to wake up.”

“No,” said YangYang shaking his head. “Taemin-hyung’s here and Kai-hyung too so please can we go home now?” Ten nodded and let go of him so they could leave. YangYang grabbed onto his arm and tucked himself as tightly into Ten’s side as he could.

“Taemin-hyung, I’m taking YangYang home,” said Ten, “can you call us when Baekhyun-hyung wakes up?”

“Yeah, of course,” agreed Taemin nodding, “we’ll see you soon.” Ten nodded and left the room behind them.

“Are you really okay? I’m sorry, I should have just brought you to the show,” said Ten.

“I don’t know,” said YangYang, “it was a lot of people and a lot of strangers and it was really scary and I don’t know Baekhyun-hyung very well so I really hope he’s not mad that I yelled at him trying to stop him.”

“He’s not,” said Ten, “Kun-hyung is throwing out all of the food in the dorm just in case since we don’t know how that got to the SuperM dorm. It had my name on it?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t yours. It was fruit,” said YangYang.

“How would that have gotten past the managers?” muttered Ten shaking his head. “We’ll throw out all the food in the SuperM dorm too.” The nurse at the desk smiled at them when they walked past him towards the front door.

“Is someone trying to kill you?” asked YangYang quietly.

“Looks that way,” said Ten hesitantly. He looked scared. “I mean it’s not the first time we’ve had death threats, but I think that’s the closest anyone’s ever gotten. We should get new locks on all the doors. Taeyong-hyung called to yell at the company for poor security.”

“He seems cool,” said YangYang smiling slightly. It was good that someone was making sure the others would be okay. YangYang couldn’t call and yell at them for making Ten scared for his life, for almost getting him killed but Taeyong could. They got into the uber quickly and Ten told them where to drop them off. YangYang slid closer to him as the car drove towards the dorm and Ten wrapped an arm around him.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked.

“Yes, hyung,” said YangYang nodding. “I didn’t eat any of the food and the paramedic and the nurse were really nice and Chen-hyung glared at everyone in the waiting room that gave us weird looks.”

“Okay, good,” said Ten brushing YangYang’s hair out of his eyes, “you need a haircut.” YangYang scrunched his nose at that but agreed anyway.

“What? You don’t want it shorter?” asked Ten, “or just don’t want to go get it cut somewhere? I bet me and Kun-hyung could figure it out.”

“If you do it okay,” agreed YangYang nodding.

“Even if it looks bad? Because I definitely have never cut anyone’s hair before,” said Ten frowning, “we can probably find a video on YouTube though.”

“That’s okay,” agreed YangYang. He did not want to have to go see some stranger to get his haircut. That would require probably talking to a stranger and letting a stranger touch his head and barbers weren’t gentle with hybrids, he was not looking to get his ears pulled.

“Well, then we’ll figure it out.” The driver stopped and Ten paid him before getting out of the car. The two of them hurried up into the dorm.

“Ten?” called Kun.

“Yeah, hyung,” responded Ten pulling his shoes off by the door. YangYang put his own next to Ten’s and they walked towards the living room.

“Is Baekhyun-hyung okay?” asked Mark looking up from where he and Lucas were both sat on the couch.

“Yes,” said Ten nodding, “they’re waiting for him to wake up before they take him home now.”

“Did they say what it was?” asked Lucas.

“Did they tell you anything?” asked Ten looking at YangYang who shook his head.

“Just poison,” said Ten.

“Do you think it was a sasaeng, hyung?” asked Xiaojun worried. Hendery was sitting with him and YangYang wondered briefly if that was for Xiaojun’s comfort or Hendery’s.

“I don’t know what else it would be,” said Ten hesitantly.

“That makes the most sense,” said Lucas nodding.

“But how did it get in the dorm? And if it was a sasaeng why didn’t they stay in the dorm?” asked Mark, “and why Ten-hyung specifically.”

“Asking questions we don’t have answers too isn’t going to help anything,” said Kun shaking his head. “The police are looking into it. Until then we’ll be extra careful. If you didn’t buy the food yourself don’t touch it and we’re not ordering out.”

“Did someone call and talk to the managers? Because clearly someone got past security measures,” said Mark.

“Taeyong-hyung called to yell at the company for the lack of security,” said Ten nodding.

“Oh good,” said Kun sounding relieved that it now wasn’t his job. “He’ll have much better luck than I will.” Footsteps came running down the hall and YangYang looked up to see it was Jisung.

“You’re okay,” he said looking right at YangYang and stopping in the doorway. “You are okay, right? Donghyuck-hyung said you went to the hospital without Ten-hyung.”

“I’m okay,” said YangYang nodding. Jisung nodded once and seemed to flounder slightly.

“Right, good. We were worried,” he said before hurrying over towards the couch and squeezing in between Mark and Lucas who made room for him.

“Yah, why’s your hair all wet?” asked Mark frowning at Jisung’s head that was in deed wet.

“Donghyuck-hyung wanted a shower,” said Jisung nodding, “and I wanted to check on YangYang-hyung. So I didn’t dry it right away. I’ll dry it later.” Kun frowned and looked exhausted.

“Please just don’t catch a cold, Jisung-ah,” he said.

“I’m okay, hyung,” insisted Jisung nodding.

“Is there any food in the kitchen anymore, hyung?” asked Ten, “YangYang-ah didn’t eat.”

“You didn’t eat?” asked Kun immediately concerned. “Okay, come on. There should be food left.” YangYang followed Ten and Kun into the kitchen and couldn’t help but feel happy with them. Having the older two fuss over trying to get him food was nice. No one had ever done anything like that for him before. Maybe staying with Kun and Xiaojun instead of going to SuperM schedules sometimes wouldn’t be so bad. Hendery and Jisung and Donghyuck were here most of the time too so it was probably okay and Ten would come back. He didn’t particularly like the idea of not being with Ten but he had managed tonight and he could manage it again.

**Author's Note:**

> okay this ends a tiny bit abruptly i'm sorry. it hit over 20k and i decided to split it up into two fics instead. technically this is a cliff hanger? i'm sorry? if it makes you feel better the whole someone's trying to kill ten thing is actually a really minor point? like the most important thing that happens around it happened already. 
> 
> the next fic will be a direct continuation timelinewise of this fic as in only a few days have passed and i haven't decided if it will have multiple chapters but it might, because i kind of want to jump through a couple groups point of views for it, but either way the continuation of this particular plot will be ended in that one. 
> 
> i am also working on a seventeen fic that may or may not be up soon, ateez will be introduced more, seungmin's briefly mentioned college plotline will have stuff at some point, and there will be more stray kids at some point. 
> 
> Animals for hybrids because i put way too much work into this:  
> YangYang - Siamese Cat  
> Hendery - Mini Lop Bunny  
> Donghyuck - Ashera Cat  
> Park Jisung - Ragdoll Cat  
> Beomgyu - Bengal Cat  
> Chen - English Setter Dog 
> 
> i think that was all the hybrids that were actually in this one...there were a lot mentioned by name but i honestly don't remember who all was talked about. 
> 
> this is as always not edited but will be at some point in the future 
> 
> thank you for reading i love you all!!!♡♡♡♡


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